Colin Adams writes:

I do believe in preaching. But I also believe – with equal ferocity – in the importance of hearing God’s Word. Ideally, a sermon should be listened to with rapt attention and deep affection. In its wake, the sermon should evoke both faith and action in the life of the believer.

Yet often we achieve less than this ideal.  Sermons can be ‘water off’ the Christian’s proverbial ‘back.’

So how can we make more of the sermons we hear? Let me offer ten recommendations to help us squeeze the juice out of the sermon.

[KEEP READING]

 

13 October 2013 — 10 AM Worship

 

Scripture:	1 Samuel 3:1–4:1a
Sermon:	“The Sword of the LORD”
Hymns:	TH 98 (stanza 3) — “All Praise and Thanks to God”
	“Before the Throne” (Tune: Before the Throne)
	“Speed Your Servants, Saviour” (Tune: Zion)
	“Almighty God, Your Word is Cast” (Tune: Dundee)
Doxology:	TH 734 — “Gloria Patri”

 

 

13 October 2013 — 3 PM Worship

Shorter Catechism #36 (paraphrased into modern English)	What are the blessings in this life that either accompany or flow from justification, adoption, and sanctification?
	The blessings in this life that either accompany or flow from justification, adoption, and sanctification are: assurance of God’s love, peace of conscience, joy in the Holy Spirit, growth in grace, and perseverance in it to this life’s end.
Scripture:	Mark 4:1–20
Sermon:	“And Grace Shall Lead Me Home”
Hymns:	TH 599 — “Saviour, Like a Shepherd Lead Us”
	TH 460 (stanzas 3-5) — “Amazing Grace”
	TH 415 — “Baptised Into Your Name Most Holy” “Almighty God, Your Word is Cast” (Tune: Dundee)
Doxology:	TH 706 (stanza 4) — “Jesus Lives!”

 

 

Audio Lectures/Sermons

Edward Donnelly, 6 part sermon series on baptism.

Ian Hamilton, Paedobaptism Defended — an address given by invitation to a Baptist congregation

Lee Irons, And the God of Thy Seed — 8 part series on infant baptism and covenant nurture

Robert McKelvey, A Case for Infant Baptism – Confessions of a Former Baptist

Richard L. Pratt Jr., Why Do We Baptise Our Children?

William Shishko,  23 part Sunday School series on Baptism.

 

Audio Debates

Paedo-Credo Baptism Debate: Dr. Robert Strimple and Dr. Fred Malone

Paedo-Credo Baptism Debate: William Shishko and James White

Paedo-Credo Baptism Debate:  Dr. David VanDrunen and Dr. Thomas Schreiner

 

Video

R. Scott Clark. Why Baptise Infants?

Leonard J. Coppes, Baptism in the Bible

Jeff Jue, The Promise to You and Your Children

Richard L. Pratt Jr., Why Do We Baptise Our Children?

Geoffrey Willour, Why Baptise Babies?

 

Books and Articles

Wes Bredenhof, Holy Baptism Signs and Seals the Benefits of Christ

Bryan Chapell, A Pastor’s Case for Infant Baptism

R. Scott Clark, A Contemporary Reformed Defence of Infant Baptism

David Feddes, Should Babies Be Baptised?

Sinclair Ferguson’s 2004 lecture, “The Westminster Doctrine of Baptism and Current Reformed Trajectories” can be purchased here.

Liam Goligher, How I Changed My Mind about Infant Baptism

Dennis E. Johnson, Infant Baptism: How My Mind Has Changed

Jack D. Kinneer, Does Baptism Mean Immersion?

C. Matthew McMahon, My Retraction: A 15 Year Baptist Turns Paedo-Baptist and Becomes Reformed

G. Shane Morris, The Real Reason Evangelicals Don’t Baptize Babies

Jeffrey Niell, The Newness of the New Covenant

Rick Phillips, Christian Baptism

Dennis Prutow, Baptism and Church Membership

Kim Riddlebarger, Baptist Objections to Infant Baptism and the Reformed Response

John Sartelle, What Christian Parents Should Know About Infant Baptism

Francis A. Schaeffer, Baptism of Infants

James W. Scott, The Biblical Basis for Baptising Infants

James W. Scott, Saving Faith and Infant Baptism

William Shishko, Is Immersion Necessary for Baptism?

Alan D. Strange, Baptism as a Seal

Gregg Strawbridge, Household Baptisms

Nathan Trice, Why I Am a Paedobaptist

Bob Vincent, “A Biblical Response to John MacArthur, Jr.’s ‘A Scriptural Critique of Infant Baptism’”

Larry Wilson, Why Does the Orthodox Presbyterian Church Baptise Infants?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Church at Worship and at Work — almost everything you need to know about the worship and work of the church — by Rev. William H. Smith   “When Preference Becomes Precept” — Jeffrey J. Ventrella “I remember my first visit to a Reformed church all too well. There I was, very wet behind the ears. Searching the Scriptures had convinced me that the “doctrines of grace” truly summarized the gospel, and I desired with all my heart to worship the sovereign God. “So I searched for a church that confessed these great Reformational truths. I found one. Upon my arrival at the small church, I was ‘greeted’ by a nerdy guy carrying a stack of books. What he lacked in social skills he made up for in aggressiveness. He approached me quickly and started the interrogation: ‘Are you new here?’ Obviously I was. ‘Do you study theology?’ When I said yes, his breathing became laboured and he started to sweat. Then came the coup de grace: ‘Are you infra- or supra-lapsarian?’ I replied, ‘Neither; I’m vegetarian!’—but my humour was lost on this poor fellow. “This story illustrates a sometimes humourous, sometimes disturbing phenomenon in today’s conservative church circles: the resurgence of the hyphenated church. A hyphenated church is one which, whether officially or unofficially, judges the orthodoxy or at least the ‘real maturity’ of people on the basis of their adherence to a preference that has been elevated to the status of an essential precept. It becomes a litmus test within the congregation.” [keep reading]   What is worldliness? — it’s much deeper and much more pervasive than we tend to imagine   Call the Sabbath a Delight — some good articles on the Lord’s Day   God’s Other Kingdom — Gene Veith. The Fourth Commandment also charges, “Six days shalt thou labour and do all thy work…”   The Limits of Christian Political Influence — “Over against both quietistic inaction and the legislation of biblical morality we suggest a ‘third way’ for evangelicals living in a pluralistic society” (John Warwick Montgomery).   Women Lust Too   The Curious Case of How the United Church of Christ Lost Jesus — the dangerous unintended consequences of politically correct tinkering with the Bible’s original language and the language of Christian creeds.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Larger Catechism 77. Q. “In what ways do justification and sanctification differ?”

A. “Even though justification and sanctification are inseparably joined together,
yet they do differ.

In justification, God imputes the righteousness of Christ to us.
In sanctification, his Spirit implants grace in us and enables us to exercise it.

In justification, God pardons our sin.
In sanctification, God subdues our sin.

In justification, God sets all believers equally and perfectly free in this life from the revenging wrath of God so that we will never fall into condemnation.
In sanctification, God’s work is neither equal in all believers, nor is it perfect in any in this life; instead, it keeps growing up to perfection.”

                                         _{(paraphrased into modern English)}

How are justification and sanctification alike?

1.      Justification and sanctification are inseparably joined together. There is no such thing as justification without sanctification, and there is no such thing as sanctification without justification. If you receive one, you also receive the other.

2.      God is the author and worker of both justification and sanctification.

3.      God grants both justification and sanctification as free gifts of his grace in Christ.

 

How do justification and sanctification differ?

Justification is:	Sanctification is:
1.    God’s definitive act of free grace for us; it is his changing our legal status.	1.    God’s ongoing work of free grace in us; it is his changing our personal character.
2.    A definitive act by which the Father imputes Christ righteousness to us.	2.    An ongoing work by which the Holy Spirit works Christ’s grace in us.
3.    A definitive act by which God forgives all our sin.	3.    An ongoing work by which God subdues all our sin.
4.    Total and equal in all believers.	4.    Different in degree in different believers.
5.    Complete and perfect in this life.	5.    Incomplete and imperfect in this life.
6.    God’s judicial verdict by which he sets us free from condemnation and awards us eternal life.	6.    God’s transforming work by which he delivers us from our sins and grants us growth into Christ’s likeness.